Public Notice - Considering Adopting Fisheries Plan

Public Notice

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering adopting the "Upper Mississippi River Fisheries Plan - 2010 - Conservation through Cooperation" as the Fisheries Management Plan for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The referenced "Fisheries Plan" was developed by the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC) with representatives from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Department of Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Fisheries Plan along with an Executive Summary is available for review at the UMRCC website at http://www.umrcc.org/Fisheries.html.

The adoption of the plan will alleviate the need to develop a separate "refuge-only" plan and will continue to facilitate the cooperative approach to resource management issues within the Refuge. If adopted, the Fisheries Management Plan will function as a Stepdown plan of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Environmental Impact Statement developed and approved for the Refuge in 2006. In the event of a conflict between goals and objectives between the CCP and Fisheries Management Plan, the CCP would take precedence.

A decision on whether to adopt the Fisheries Plan will be made in late January 2013.

Comments or concerns about adopting the plan are requested by January 22, 2013 and can be sent to Refuge Manager, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, 51 East 4th Street, Winona, MN 55987. Comments can also be received via email at Lisa_Liddell@fws.gov or by telephoning the Refuge Manager at (507) 452-4232.